S1 (FriAM 1-65) - The Psychonomic Society

Saturday Afternoon Papers 257–262
more quickly, indicating they did not consider their falsity, but this
only held for statements noninformative when false. Thus, semantic
properties of statements determine whether people consider their
falsity.
Discourse Processing
Shoreline, Saturday Afternoon, 3:30–5:30
Chaired by Gary E. Raney, University of Illinois, Chicago
3:30–3:45 (257)
Transfer Across Seemingly Unrelated Narratives: A Similarity-
Based Explanation. GARY E. RANEY, FRANCES DANIEL,
JOANNA C. BOVEE, FIONA LYNCH, & TOM VADAKARA, University
of Illinois, Chicago—According to Raney (2003), repetition
effects and transfer benefits across texts will be larger if the situation
models of the texts overlap than if they do not overlap. Klin, Ralano,
and Weingartner (in press) tested this aspect of Raney’s model. They
had readers read two supposedly unrelated stories that shared a sentence
and measured transfer (processing time of target sentences in the
second story). They concluded that transfer was found across unrelated
stories. To make this claim, Klin et al. must demonstrate that
their story pairs are unrelated. We present passage similarity ratings
from 4 studies supporting the conclusion that their story pairs are related.
Similarity ratings were largest in those conditions where Klin
et al. found fastest processing times and were smallest where Klin
et al. found slowest processing times. We discuss these findings in relation
to other research that proposes evidence of transfer across unrelated
passages.
3:50–4:05 (258)
Verb Aspect and Event Simulations. CAROL J. MADDEN, Erasmus
University Rotterdam, & DAVID J. THERRIAULT, University of
Florida—According to embodied frameworks of language comprehension,
pictures of instruments in use (open umbrella, uncapped pen)
should better match readers’ simulations of described events than instruments
not in use (closed umbrella, capped pen). This effect may
be stronger for events described as ongoing (imperfective aspect)
rather than completed (perfect aspect). Participants read imperfective
(was playing) and perfect (had played) event descriptions, word by
word in a rebus paradigm, with the critical instrument word replaced
by a picture of that instrument in use or not in use. Keypresses to advance
through in-use pictures were faster than keypresses for not inuse
pictures in both imperfective and perfect sentences. Furthermore,
keypresses on the two words following the picture, as well as sentencefinal
sensibility judgments also showed the in-use advantage, although
only for imperfective sentences. These findings suggest that
there are aspectual differences in the time course of perceptual simulations
of events.
4:10–4:25 (259)
Cognitive and Neurological Bases of Inferential Processes During
Reading. PAUL VAN DEN BROEK, ALEX MERKLE, & ELISSAIOS
KARAGEORGIOU, University of Minnesota, PANAYIOTA KENDEOU,
McGill University, & ART LEUTHOLD & APOSTOLOS GEORGOP-
OULOS, University of Minnesota—How do we understand what we
read? Reading comprehension is a complex process that involves the
interpretation of unfolding text information using prior knowledge
and the construction of a coherent representation of the text in the
reader’s mind. In the present set of studies, we begin to explore the
neurological bases of this complex process using magnetoencephalography
(MEG). First, we use the Landscape Model theory of
reading comprehension to make predictions about the specific
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moment-by-moment comprehension activities during the reading of
various texts. Next, we collect MEG data during reading for comprehension
of these texts. Finally, we draw connections between the
model and behavioral data to better understand the cognitive and neurological
bases of reading comprehension.
4:30–4:45 (260)
Memory for Functional Relations in Text and Problem Solving.
JOHN B. BLACK, Teachers College, Columbia University—This research
investigated the relationship between participants’ memories
for various kinds of information in expository texts and the participants’
abilities to solve problems using that information. Of particular
interest were participants’ memories for functional relations that
describe how one entity changes as a function of changes in another
entity, how integrated the memory for these functional relations is,
and how well the participants can use this information to solve “whatif
” problems (i.e., problems where a change is described and the participants
have to figure out what other changes will occur). College
students read texts describing systems of interacting entities, then recalled
the texts, drew pictures of the text contents, and then solved the
“what-if ” problems. The relationships between memory for the functional
relations, the integration of those memories, and the problem
solving performance were examined.
4:50–5:05 (261)
Age-Related Changes in Spoken Discourse Comprehension.
MITCHELL S. SOMMERS, SANDRA HALE, JOEL MYERSON, &
NATHAN S. ROSE, Washington University, & NANCY TYE-MURRAY
& BRENT SPEHAR, Washington University Medical School—Previous
research on adult age-related differences in speech comprehension has
focused primarily on lower levels in the language comprehension
process (i.e., phoneme and word perception, and, to a lesser extent,
sentence comprehension). In contrast, the present study examined potential
age-related differences in spoken discourse comprehension. To
this end, we measured spoken discourse comprehension for three different
passage types (lectures, interviews, and oral histories) using
three types of comprehension questions (information, integration, and
inference). In addition, we measured auditory sensitivity as a potential
mediator of age-related differences. Consistent with previous
studies, we found that spoken language comprehension declines as a
function of age during adulthood. Importantly, we also found that taking
into account normal age-related changes in auditory function did
not substantially reduce this deficit. Instead, our results indicate that
age-related differences in cognitive processes are primarily responsible
for the deficits in spoken discourse comprehension.
5:10–5:25 (262)
Bill Clinton on the Middle East: Perspective in Media Interviews.
CAMELIA SULEIMAN, Florida International University, &
DANIEL C. O’CONNELL, Georgetown University (read by Daniel C.
O’Connell)—Four TV and two radio interviews given by Bill Clinton
after the publication of his memoirs in June 2004 are examined for expressions
of perspective on the Middle East. Bill Clinton’s personal perspective
is clearly reflected in his choice of referencing terms for parties
in the Middle East conflict: The Israeli and Palestinian points of
view are designated by first-person and third-person pronominals, respectively.
A similar relationship is found for his references to the USA
and Iraq. His perspective is manifested in his references to countries,
people, and individual political leaders. Such references thus become
expressions of a more general frame of power relationships in discourse,
in which a progressive, advanced world is compared with a primitive,
violent world. Implications for a theory of personal perspective in discourse
and for the dialogic nature of perspective are discussed.